Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Wednesday 18 April 2007
18 April 2007
"NCM bring you EXCLUSIVE transfer news on a possible summer arrival. Ciaran Toner will join Notts County in the summer from Grimsby Town, NCM can reveal. After it was picked up on messageboards across the Midlands, NCM did further investigation and can confirm this "rumour" to be true... [Steve] Thompson has been quoted as saying he will definitely be here, though the exact quote isn't known. NCM are of the belief that Ciaran Toner will definitely be a Magpie next season."
Notts County Mad, 28 March 2007
"I have shook hands on an agreement with Ciaran Toner, for a new two-year contract."
Alan Buckley, 18 April 2007
Would you believe it? The messageboards were wrong! And not only has Town's revivified goalscoring midfielder decided to stay put: Justin Whittle and Nick Hegarty have also agreed terms to extend their stays at Blundell Park for a further year. Even at the age of - hang on, let me check on Soccerbase - 36, the Mariners' Shearer-bashing central defender and captain has impressed this season with a string of committed performances, and only the worst kind of dyed-in-the-wool Hullophobes continue to deny the Sarge due recognition. It is perhaps more surprising to see terms offered to Hegarty, who hasn't appeared for the first team in three months after featuring heavily immediately after Lord Buckley's return. The manager insists, though, that the ginger winger is "one for the future" and, despite Town managers seemingly having said exactly the same thing for the last five years, Soccerbase insists that the player is still only 20. Bucko sounds delighted to have secured the continued services of the trio, particularly after Toner's earlier seeming reluctance to commit himself to stay. "It was quite important to tie Ciaran up," says the GTFC boss, zipping up a thigh-high leather boot.
One explanation for the extension of Hegarty's contract is his impressive recent form for the reserves and, indeed, the flame-haired temptress played a key role in both of his side's goals last night as the second string drew two-all at York. Town took the lead twice with strikes from Josh Burge and Steve 'Interesting' Davis, and I can't tell you whether Stuart Watkiss's side are still top of their division because it's actually really hard to find up-to-date reserve league tables anywhere, and the OS doesn't even bother publishing an out-of-date one.
John Fenty continues to sound positive about his stately Fentydome. Today the relentless cheerful and laid-back GTFC supremo can be found in the Grimsby Telegraph, dreaming that, because his new stadium will be designed "to actually meet UEFA standards", it might host England under-21 games. The Diary's immediate suspicion is that the FA would deem the Fentydome's capacity inadequate for such events, but if England's senior team continues to perform like a group of asthmatic octogenarians in new shoes then there's every chance that public interest in the whole national team set-up will wane sufficiently for 12,000 seats to be more than enough.
And finally today, there's just time to tell you that Luton's Broken Michael Reddy is about to have another operation on his dodgy - do you know what, it's been so long that I've actually forgotten where it is that he's injured. After seeing specialists in London and Ireland, reports today's Grimsby Telegraph, this time he's having his hip bone shaved in Coventry - as you do. The Diary wishes Town's fragile forward well, but with his contract up in the summer the possibility of his playing any more football for Grimsby Town looks about as likely as international football at the Fentydome.